‘Star Wars: The Last Jedi’ Toys to Get Blockbuster-Style Midnight Sales Launch in September

“Star Wars: The Last Jedi” merchandise will become available to fans in September with a Friday global launch event Star Wars Force II, Disney and Lucasfilm announced Thursday.

Toys, collectibles, books, apparel and more will go on sale beginning at 12:01 a.m. on September 1, with stores around the world opening for a weekend-long celebration of all things Star Wars.

“The first Star Wars Force Friday event was truly unique, uniting fans across five continents in an unprecedented global live unboxing event ahead of thousands of midnight openings at retail,” said Jimmy Pitaro, chairman of Disney consumer products and interactive media. “We’re excited to confirm that Star Wars Force Friday is back for ‘The Last Jedi’. Plans for this year’s world-wide event are top secret but expect something befitting the excitement around the next episode of the Star Wars saga.”

Star Wars fans around the globe embraced Force Friday in 2015, with hundreds of thousands turning up to stores at midnight to be the first to get their hands on merchandise from “Star Wars: The Force Awakens.”

Toys from the new line were revealed via a global live-stream unboxing event that unfolded over 18 hours, 15 different cities and 12 countries, attracting millions of views on YouTube. Fans took to social media to share their experiences with nearly 3 billion Twitter impressions about the events, using #ForceFriday.

“Star Wars: The Force Awakens” is the highest grossing movie of all time domestically and that success was mirrored at retail. Star Wars was the number one toy property in the U.S. for 2016 and 2015, and that during the week of Force Friday, $1 for every $11 spent on toys was on a Star Wars item. Additionally, the popularity of the movie propelled Star Wars onto the top ten toy list for both boys and girls for the first time ever in 2015.

In 2014, actor Peter Mayhew -- a.k.a. Chewbacca -- treated "Star Wars" fans to some production pics of Carrie Fisher taken while she was playing Princess Leia on the set of the original trilogy...along with some rather cheeky captions. As the world remembers Fisher's incredible career, here's a look back at her time filming her most famous role.

Lucasfilm/Peter Mayhew

Mayhew carrying Fisher around the backlot during the filming of "Star Wars"...

Lucasfilm/Peter Mayhew

...and then doing it again in full costume.

Lucasfilm/Peter Mayhew

Fisher sunbathing in her infamous slave outfit with her stunt double while taking a break from filming "Return of the Jedi."

Lucasfilm/Peter Mayhew

Mark Hamill taking a stroll with Fisher while looking far less dramatic than he did while playing Luke in "ROTJ"

Lucasfilm/Peter Mayhew

Production photo of the infamous Luke/Leia kiss scene from "The Empire Strikes Back" being filmed.

Lucasfilm/Peter Mayhew

Fisher taking a break during filming of "Empire Strikes Back"

Lucasfilm/Peter Mayhew

Apparently Princess Leia's bun-hair was very bouncy.

Lucasfilm/Peter Mayhew

Fisher posing with some Rebel soldiers on the Echo Base set

Lucasfilm/Peter Mayhew

Fisher in a snowball fight on Hoth.

Lucasfilm/Peter Mayhew

"There are no words for this loss," wrote Mayhew after Fisher's death. "Carrie was the brightest light in every room she entered. I will miss her dearly."

Lucasfilm/Peter Mayhew

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Photos by the Chewbacca actor show Fisher’s playfulness when George Lucas wasn’t rolling the cameras

In 2014, actor Peter Mayhew -- a.k.a. Chewbacca -- treated "Star Wars" fans to some production pics of Carrie Fisher taken while she was playing Princess Leia on the set of the original trilogy...along with some rather cheeky captions. As the world remembers Fisher's incredible career, here's a look back at her time filming her most famous role.